PERFORMANCE AND PARENT INVOLVEMENT
2004-05 THROUGH 2006-07 SCHOOL YEARS
DISABILITY CATEGORIES WITHIN CRITERIA
1-Dec-04
Source: Virginia Department of Education, 2007.
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement According to the documents gathered during the MGT site visits, few schools within the division reported in-service training on teaching with cultural competence. One
elementary school reported a professional development session titled “Improving the Achievement of African American Males.” However, OPEC has not provided a comprehensive approach to training SST members in effective cultural competence strategies. New research on the learning characteristics of racial/ethnic populations should be incorporated into the SST member training. Recent work by Eleanor Renee Rodriguez and James Bellanca (2007) highlights the different approaches to student achievement when working with students of ethnic origins.
As required under Section 427 of Title II, the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) enacted as a part of the 2001 NCLB amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, applicants for federal assistance must address equity concerns that may affect full participation of potential program beneficiaries (teachers, students, or parents) in designing their projects. Section 427 requires identification of barriers to full participation, if any, and a description of steps taken, or that will be taken, to overcome them. The legislation highlights six characteristics describing broad categories of persons or groups that may more frequently encounter barriers to participation: gender, race, national origin, color, disability, and age.
In the VBCPS application for federal funds submitted in accordance with provisions of Section 427, race and/or color were identified as barriers as described in the data trend.
VBCPS stated in its application for funds that it would develop a remediation plan to:
Provide awareness of/sensitivity to issues of race/color bias through:
− Group counseling.
Provide awareness of people of different racial/color groups functioning in all roles/jobs/professions through:
− Awareness/career days.
Encourage participation of all students and staff, regardless of race or color, in all programs and activities through:
− Active recruitment of under-represented groups.
Ensure appropriate representation of all races and colors in all:
− Activities.
− Instructional materials.
− Promotional materials.
MGT reviewed the 2007-08 listing of professional development classes offered by OPEC and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Although the offerings are extensive, only one reference to cultural differences was found. The OPEC offered a single class on “Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices.”
VBCPS has a disproportionate number of students with disabilities that are Black and a projected disproportionate number of students with disabilities of Hispanic origin. The
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement SSTs lack research-based intervention strategies that have proven to be successful with specific ethnic populations. Greater emphasis should be placed on divisionwide
procedures to decrease the proportions of specific ethnicities among students with disabilities.
RECOMMENDATION 4-6:
Provide training to Student Support Team members on research-based
intervention strategies that have proven successful for all students, particularly with specific ethnic populations who are over-represented in receiving special education services.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIME LINE
1. The Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction should select a committee that will develop, implement, and train coordinators, specialists, and SST members in
identifying activities for culturally based SST intervening services. Professional development on scientifically based, culturally sensitive strategies should occur in the areas of academic and behavioral interventions
September 2008
2. The committee should develop a plan for training to occur at critical times (beginning of the school year) with a schedule for follow-up training throughout the school year. As a result of the new culturally sensitive information, the committee will update any procedural guidelines or forms utilized by SST members.
October 2008
3. The Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction should identify OPEC staff responsible for the monitoring of SST documentation from specific schools to ensure
compliance with current changes. Site-based monitoring should be conducted by administrators at the building level with assistance from OPEC coordinators.
November 2008
FISCAL IMPACT
If the technical assistance provided to teachers is provided during the contracted day by OPEC staff, there is no associated cost for implementation of this recommendation. If VBCPS offered staff development associated with this recommendation after the contracted day, the associated costs would be $30 per hour (plus $25 per hour preparation time) for the instructor and $12.50 per hour for each participant.
FINDING
The OPEC does not consistently monitor the appropriateness of interventions for over-represented students.
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement There is an inconsistency among schools in the recommendations made for academic and behavioral interventions as part of the SST process. The MGT survey results support this finding.
MGT survey results in Exhibit 4-24 show the need for training related to the pre-referral process. A large percentage of central office administrators, special education teachers, and general education teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement
“School staffs receive adequate staff development related to the pre-referral process.” A similar response was reported for questions about the effectiveness of the general education intervention process as it supports the classroom teacher with instructional interventions, behavioral interventions, effectiveness of the intervention process in the reduction of referrals, and adequacy of documentation to determine the effectiveness of the interventions. Responses to these questions clearly support the need for training in the area of alternate interventions.
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement EXHIBIT 4-24
COMPARISON OF SURVEY RESPONSES WITHIN VIRGINIA BEACH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
(%A + SA) / (%D + SD)
involved in the prereferral process.
37/17 53/13 38/22 29/12 35/6
School staff receive adequate staff development related to the prereferral process.
37/33 72/16 43/35 47/27 42/11
The general education
intervention process effectively supports the general classroom teacher with instructional interventions.
40/27 73/18 44/29 43/33 42/16
The general education
intervention process effectively supports the general classroom teacher with behavioral
interventions.
35/31 69/21 36/38 37/39 40/18
The prereferral interventions are adequately documented to determine their effectiveness.
39/22 72/14 45/23 43/18 42/9
The prereferral process is timely
and comprehensive. 43/21 81/9 56/16 42/21 37/11
The general education
intervention process effectively reduces the number of referrals for student evaluation.
35/24 69/15 35/24 34/19 32/13
The school principal or
designee ensures that a referral process for special education supports and services is implemented.
68/6 98/0 76/8 66/7 57/5
The referral process is timely
and comprehensive. 66/9 96/2 71/10 49/20 44/12
The evaluation and eligibility determination process for special education is timely and comprehensive.
68/9 93/1 75/10 47/22 45/10
Source: Results of MGT survey, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, 2008.
1Percentage responding Agree or Strongly Agree/Percentage responding Disagree or Strongly Disagree. The neutral and don’t know responses are omitted.
IDEA 2004 requires that state education agencies implement, in accordance with the purposes of IDEA and with Section 618(d), policies and procedures designed to prevent the over-identification and disproportionality by race and ethnicity of children with
disabilities as described in Section 602 (Definitions) [612(a)(24)]. If it is determined that a local education agency (LEA) has a significant disproportionality with respect to the identification of students with disabilities, the state must:
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement
Provide for the review and, if appropriate, revision of the policies, procedures, and practices to ensure these policies, procedures, and practices comply with the requirements of IDEA;
Require the LEA identified under Section 618(d)(1) to reserve the maximum amount of funds under Section 613(f) to provide
comprehensive, coordinated early intervening services, particularly to serve students in those groups that are significantly over identified under Section 618(d)(1); and
Require the LEA to publicly report on the revision of policies, practices, and procedures described under Section 618(d)(1)(A).
IDEA 2004 further mandates activities of personnel preparation to ensure appropriate placements and services for all students, and to reduce disproportionality in eligibility, placement, and disciplinary actions for minority and limited English proficient students [633(c)(9)].
RECOMMENDATION 4-7:
Consistently monitor the Student Support Team recommendations for
interventions for all students, especially the recommendations for Black males and English language learners.
The VBCPS document for training on the technical aspects of compliance issues for SSTs was last updated in November 2006. The SST process was clearly defined in that update. Lacking in the documentation is the atypical academic support system that a student with cultural differences may require and the monitoring of the intervention. Most schools provide interventions that include academic assistance, Virginia SOLs, tutoring, mentor partnerships, in-school tutoring, behavioral supports or behavioral modification contracts, meetings with guidance counselors, and parent conferences. The intervention strategies currently utilized are numerous and may succeed in the early interventions for some of the division’s student population. Culturally sensitive strategies combined with these interventions address the needs of the rising ethnic populations and may reduce the disproportionality of students from cultural backgrounds who are referred to and placed in special education services.
The format for monitoring, as identified in the SST Student Intervention Plan, states, “List recommended strategies and interventions that will be implemented to assist the
student, and how will we know this student has made progress?” Once training on culturally sensitive interventions is complete, OPEC should update the SST Student Intervention Plan to fully document the interventions that have been initiated, how often they are monitored, and the results of the intervention.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIME LINE
1. The Director of OPEC should select a committee to work in conjunction with the group that is designing SST training.
(Recommendation 4-6)
September 2008
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement
2. The committee should evaluate the effectiveness of the current monitoring documentation for the SST Intervention Plan, and redesign the documentation as appropriate.
September 2008
3. The committee should construct a time line for reviewing the site-based SST documentation and data logs and report the results of the monitoring to the Director of OPEC for further modifications to SST interventions.
September 2008
FISCAL IMPACT
Monitoring of the recommendations of the Student Support Team is an integral component of the pre-referral process and would occur during the contracted day through analysis of student performance data associated with the interventions. If the Student Support Team monitored recommendations after the contract day, the
associated fiscal impact would be $12.50 per hour for each team participant.
FINDING
The OPEC lacks a model or delivery system for the positive behavioral supports for students with disabilities. Currently, OPEC coordinators or school psychologists work with teachers and support staff regarding functional behavioral assessments or
behavioral intervention plans, but there is no staff in OPEC assigned specifically for the purpose of behavioral support for students with disabilities.
Exhibit 4-25 shows the number of functional behavioral assessments conducted by school psychologists from 2004-05 through 2006-07. While the number of assessments was relatively low, it increased 361 percent in three years. It should also be noted that many more functional behavioral assessments were completed by teachers or other school staff, but data on the frequency of or trends in those assessments were not available.
Policies, Procedures, Assessment, Student Performance, and Parent Involvement EXHIBIT 4-25
VIRGINIA BEACH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT CONDUCTED BY PSYCHOLOGISTS